The present invention relates to emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, fire engines, police cars, and so on, and more particularly the present invention relates to a system that helps make the operation of emergency vehicles safer.
Emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, fire engines, police cars, and so on, can pose hazards to other vehicles on the roads. While traveling to and from scenes of emergencies, emergency vehicles have been involved in accidents with other vehicles or have caused other vehicles to have accidents. There have been prior attempts to make the operation of emergency vehicles while traveling to and from scenes of emergencies safer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,398 describes a system wherein an emergency vehicle is equipped with a GPS receiver. Equipment in the emergency vehicle uses the GPS receiver to determine the emergency vehicle""s location and heading. Data indicating the emergency vehicle""s location and heading are transmitted from the emergency vehicle to intersection controllers that are located at each intersection that has traffic signals. The intersection controller uses the data indicating the emergency vehicle position and heading to determine whether the emergency vehicle is on any road that might lead to the intersection. If the emergency vehicle is on any road heading toward an intersection, the intersection controller operates the traffic signals at the intersection to give the emergency vehicle the right-of-way.
Although the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,539 may address some safety issues concerning the operation of emergency vehicles, there is still room for improvement. For example, there is a need to predict the path of an emergency vehicle better so that safety measures may be implemented along the path.
To address these and other objectives, the present invention comprises a system and method that help make operation of emergency vehicles safer. When an emergency vehicle is traveling to or from an emergency, a route for the emergency vehicle to travel is calculated using a navigation system. Traffic signals along the calculated route are controlled to give the emergency vehicle the right-of-way along the calculated route. In addition, data indicating the calculated route of the emergency vehicle are transmitted to other vehicles located along the calculated route. In each of these other vehicles, warnings are provided to the vehicle drivers. These warnings indicate the presence of the emergency vehicle and optionally the expected path of travel of the emergency vehicle.
According to one aspect of the invention, a route for the emergency vehicle is calculated at a central location. Data representing the route are sent from the central location to the emergency vehicle where driving instructions are provided to the emergency vehicle driver for following the route. Data are also sent from the central location to the other vehicles along the route so that warnings can be provided to drivers of these other vehicles. The central database location also sends data to traffic signal controllers to provide the emergency vehicle with the right-of-way along the calculated route.
According to an alternative aspect of the invention, a route for the emergency vehicle is calculated using a navigation system in the emergency vehicle. The navigation system in the emergency vehicle provides driving instructions to the emergency vehicle driver for following the route. Data are also sent from the navigation system in the emergency vehicle to other vehicles within proximity to the emergency vehicle so that warnings can be provided to drivers of these other vehicles. The navigation system in the emergency vehicle also sends data to traffic signal controllers to provide the emergency vehicle with the right-of-way along the calculated route.
According to another aspect of the invention, data representing the traveling status (e.g., current location, heading, speed, acceleration, turn signal status, and optionally the route) of the emergency vehicle and the other vehicles located around the emergency vehicle are shared so that each vehicle (including the emergency vehicle) is informed of the traveling status of the vehicles around it. Using this information, vehicle paths and trajectories are predicted in order to identify the probability of potential accident occurrences. Warnings are provided, as appropriate, to avoid occurrences of accidents.